She is till waiting.

Like her, Vijay Keshav Dongre registered wit the Social Welfare Board almost 10 years back. When all else failed he tried his hand at body building to earn a decent living. Even that did not help and he finally arrived at the District Employment Exchange in Somwar Peth to register himself as unemployed.

Little does Dongre know of the 2,60,469 people already waiting ahead of him, and as usual, jobs are nowhere in sight. If there are any, they are mostly of the Group C and D variety. Which translates into jobs as peons or data entry operators. And these are the jobs available to the almost 40 per cent graduates registered with the exchange.

And the numbers keep piling up. This year 62,236 persons have registered themselves with the exchange, already up by nearly 7,500 from last year. More are expected to register in the next two months. And the jobs are drying up with a measly 1,227 notifications received till September this year.

And like Rekha and Dongre, people are caught in a vicious circle. Today Rekha has come to the exchange to get a duplicate employment card which is mandatory for an interview she has to appear for. Most advertisements sent out by Government departments ask for her employment exchange registration number. So, one cannot do without it and very little one gets from it.

The last time the State Government had come up with a new employment policy, admits G A Sangad, assistant director, District Employment Exchange, was in 1997. The government had initiated a self-employment programme encouraging the district offices to generate new proposals for schemes. The idea was that the District Employment Exchanges would come up with proposals of self-employment schemes and help the youth earn a decent living.

Now, three years after the scheme was floated, officials at the exchange ``play a motivating role,'' says Sangad, ``but we do not have any schemes or proposals of our own. Mostly departments like the fisheries, horticulture or the village cottage industries come up with a few schemes and we pass on the information to the people who are registered with us.''

Which barely helps. Between May 1997 and March 1999, only 3,704 candidates have been placed in self-employment schemes. Getting a loan sanctioned for the scheme is a tough nut to crack.

As per the Labour Ministry's directives, exchanges were asked to increase cooperation with the private sector. ``But we have not received any notification to the effect,'' says Sangad. All they have, he says, is the Employment Exchange Compulsory Notification of Vacancies Act, 1959. As per the Act, any company that has more than 25 employees must send a notification of vacancies. ``But there is no guarantee that they will be employed,'' points out Sangad.

The Labour Ministry had also suggested that all employment offices have a counsellor. Here, the dilapidated board with the legend Yuvak Margdarshini points to senior clerk Pandurang Shirke. And his version of counselling. He points out how to get registered and which forms to fill. ``I guide them on where to go to fill the form,'' he says at the same time insisting that all visitors put in their name into the Vyaktigat Margdarshini Abhilekh. Like him, the register is doubling as a visitor's book. For people like Dongre and Rekha the exchange is their last hope. Dongre came to Pune from Beed in 1989 in search of a job. After 10 years he is earning Rs 1,700 at a grocery store in Pimpri. Of this Rs 1,000 is sent back home to support parents, two unmarried sisters and a younger brother.

Like Rekha he had registered with the Social Welfare Board in 1993. After seven years he has come to pin his hopes at the Employment Exchange... thus begins another saga of waiting and futile hopes.

Fewer applicants get jobs
In 1998, 54,658 people got themselves registered with the exchange. Number of those who got jobs - 1,612. In 1997, 4,56,041 people got themselves registered. Number of those employed - 2887. The exchange had received 3,119 notifications for jobs in 1998, a fall from 4,680 notifications in the year before.